dogged hatch and porthole down
by ambiguously
Summary: On the run from the First Order, Finn and his brand new friend Rey are kidnapped by Trandoshans and rescued by a smuggler with a personal interest in some old ship from Unkar Plutt's junkyard. Alternate universe, pre-ship.


Looking back, this had been the strangest day of Finn's life. The exhilaration of new-found freedom from the First Order coupled and clashed with the high, keening fear of discovery and recapture. Both mixed with wide, sweeping strokes into the mush of his low terror upon having been almost immediately seized by Trandoshan pirates, not to mention his sudden, squirming attraction to a fellow prisoner who'd been scooped up from Jakku in the same sweep. His own safety was secondary to hers, he'd already decided, even though he'd only known her for a few hours.

"You're staring," said Rey. "Are you all right?"

"No. I think I'm panicking. That's a thing people do, right?"

"Not when they want to survive." She patted his shoulder. Something in the way she did so told him she was as unused to giving or receiving comfort as he was. "We need to get out of here."

Rey had accidentally named him as he'd introduced himself to her, their wrists chained next to one another as they'd been processed by their captors with a quick look-over, checking for muscles and teeth, before they'd been thrown into this locked cabin. It could have been worse. He didn't know what he would have done if one of their beastly captors had kicked his legs apart and brutalized him in the way the stories said pirates often did. Worry squirmed in his gut that their current state was only a temporary peace, to be followed by long, degrading breaking-in sessions by their guards. The lizard men would take turns one by one as the others jeered and salivated.

Finn didn't have much experience reading faces. He wasn't sure if the tight line in Rey's mouth meant she was considering the same terrifying prospect.

"We'll overpower the guards when they come in," he said with more confidence than he felt. "I'm a trained soldier, and most of the pirates are on the other ship."

The funny thing, if anything was funny about this, was his surety that they hadn't been the target of the raid at all. The pirates had raided an outpost on the crummy desert planet where Finn had crashed, stealing two ships and, during the same heist, the two of them. Wrong place, wrong time. If Finn had walked in the other direction from his crash, he wouldn't be here now. Rey would, waiting and worrying for the guards to return as she sat alone.

"They'll have thought of that," she said. "They won't come in until they're sure they have enough weapons and guards to win." Her eyes moved around the small room. Her hands were bound behind her now. She got to her feet awkwardly, looking inside drawers. "I've been in here before," she said, mostly to herself. "Unkar stripped out anything valuable a long time ago." She smiled, and it was a gorgeous smile. She reached behind her into the drawer and pulled out something.

"It's a comb," Finn said. "You're going to do your hair now?"

She gave him a flat look. "Turn around."

The comb was brown and plain, something made to hold long hair in place, not to shimmer and entice as an ornament. Rey broke off one long tooth, and began picking Finn's binders behind herself as they sat back to back.

"You do this a lot?"

"I've been captured before. Jakku isn't a nice place to live." With a _click_, his hands came free.

"Thanks." Rey handed him the pick and Finn set to work, quickly realizing he had no idea how to pick a lock. "So the first thing I do is what?"

She gave him an impatient sigh. "Give it back."

"I can do this."

"I can do it faster." She opened her fingers to accept the pick. Finn gave it back and watched her twist until she could work the thin probe into the lock herself. After a few minutes, he heard another _click_. "Got it."

Rey dropped her binders and rubbed her hands. Finn poked through the drawers looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was a half-used bottle of hair tonic, probably owned by the same person who'd left the comb. He hefted it into his hand, and decided spraying the expired liquid into the guards' eyes would be more useful than trying to club them with the not very heavy mass. Rey meanwhile was stripping the bunk of the ripped, stained blanket that had been too poor even for Unkar Plutt to bother selling. She twisted the fabric into a rope, and held it tautly between her hands.

"Maybe they'll be bad shots," Finn said, and fell into her as the ship shook. Blaster fire? "Your buddy Plutt want his ships back?" he asked, hope fading

"He doesn't have any battle ships."

"The First Order does." He was almost sure they wouldn't come after him. What was one escaped stormtrooper in the grand scheme of things? The ship shuddered again. Could be the pirates falling out with each other, could be an act of war. "We have to get out of here. Can you pick the door lock?"

"I can try." Rey bent to the task as they shook. Suddenly everything went silent right before they heard the distinct sound of an airlock tether attaching to the hull.

"We're being boarded." Terror played its games behind his eyes. The First Order had found him. The other Trandoshans wanted to take all the loot, and the prisoners, for themselves. The pirates had been bested by someone even worse.

Blaster shots echoed from somewhere on the ship.

"Hurry!"

Rey focused on her work. "Not helping."

Finn desperately searched the cabin for anything else he could use. Nothing. This room had been stripped. Rey had described the ship as garbage when they'd been forcefully loaded onto it, and Finn was forced to agree.

He heard a different kind of _click_ as the cabin door opened. He caught Rey's expression of pleased triumph a moment before he saw the blaster rifle pointed at her.

Instinct took over. Finn rushed the invader, his brain taking a second to tell him the newcomer wasn't Trandoshan. They barrelled to the floor, the blaster falling away. A moment later, Finn felt himself pushed off by invisible hands, and held against the wall. The figure rolled and went for the blaster.

Terror back in the forefront of his mind, he saw the bodies of two Trandoshans. Rey was already out of the cabin, her hands going into the air. "Wait! We're prisoners."

"Yes," agreed the newcomer, as he blaster slid into his hands. He pointed it at Rey. Finn remained trapped where he was, unable to move.

"Their prisoners!" Rey said, indicating the lizardlike bodies. "You rescued us."

Finn struggled. This guy didn't seem like the rescuing type. His shaggy, dark hair haloed a face that half-reminded Finn of the stories from his childhood of devils and demons, though the man looked human. Finn thought he was handsome in a peculiar fashion. The man stared at Rey long enough for her to lean back, uncomfortable with his scrutiny. Without looking at Finn, he moved his hand. The pressure holding Finn in place dropped. Finn's first impulse was to attack. His self-preservation instincts reminded him the guy had just used some force to hold him without even trying. No, some Force.

"You're a Jedi," he said, wrapping his mouth around the unfamiliar word. The history lessons from his early days said the Jedi were despicable creatures consumed by their own failures and rightfully eradicated at the birth of the Empire. The stories the stormtroopers passed around to one another whispered of magic powers, strange rituals, and cool laser swords. Bootleg holos, passed around almost as often and used as aids to bunk time self-exploration, showed pretend wizards in low-budget lustful embraces with each other, with blank-staring holo girls, or with badly-scanned clone images. Finn had messed his shorts plenty of times watching holos with some Jedi on his knees, mouth stretched and sucking. If the Jedi could pluck that thought out of his brain right now, Finn was in even more trouble than he'd thought.

The newcomer looked at him. Finn tried to think clean thoughts. "No," said the Jedi. Then he ignored them, making his way towards the cockpit. Finn shared a glance with Rey, and they followed.

Another Trandoshan lay dead on the floor. Their rescuer walked past him, slouching into the pilot's seat with a long sigh, closing his eyes. Finn looked at Rey to share a moment of thinking the new guy was cracked, but her face had drawn into an odd frown. She said, "You've been here before."

He didn't answer. His eyes opened, and he leaned forward to the comm. "_Sylop's Fortune_, come in. This is," he took the shortest of pleased breaths, "the _Millennium Falcon_. Do you copy?"

The Millennium Falcon? Even Finn had heard of that ship. Rey's face registered the same shock he felt.

The comm lit up. A chirpy voice replied, "_Sylop's Fortune_ to the _Falcon_, we copy! Thank the Maker you found it!"

"Those Trandoshans will be looking for their friends. I'll rendezvous with you at the following coordinates. Sending now."

Almost absently, he activated the controls for the ship, taking them into hyperspace. Then he turned around. "You're still here."

"Yeah, we're still here," Finn said. "Where else would we go?"

"As soon as we land somewhere, you're getting off my ship."

"This is Unkar Plutt's ship," said Rey.

The man frowned. "No, she's mine. She was stolen years ago." He caressed the control panel. "She should be mine." He looked back at them again, annoyance in his eyes. "Why did the pirates take you?"

Rey said, "They were after the ships, and we happened to be too close." She looked down at the dead man. "You didn't have to kill them."

"They'd have done the same to me, and once they were through with whatever they planned for the two of you, they'd have killed or sold you." He poked the body with his boot. "I haven't discarded the idea of doing the same."

Finn brought his hands into fists. Rey relaxed beside him. "You're not interested in killing us. All you have to do is take us back to Jakku, and you'll have seen the last of us."

Finn turned to her. "I don't want to go back to Jakku. Jakku is a miserable pile of sand."

"I agree," said Kylo.

"I don't care," she said. "I'm waiting for my family. I need to go back."

The Jedi stared at her for a long moment. He made a disbelieving little 'harrumph' in his throat.

"I'm Finn." He held out his hand. The Jedi acted as though he didn't hear.

"I'm Rey." She didn't hold out a hand, but again Finn noticed she held the man's attention.

"Call me Kylo." He nodded at the body. "If the two of you want to make yourselves useful, gather those up and put them out the airlock."

"Seems kinda heartless," Finn said. "Don't they get a funeral or something?"

Rey said, "Trandoshans believe their souls go directly to the afterlife. They aren't interested in funeral customs." She bent down and grabbed the dead man's feet. "Come on."

Finn lifted the man's heavy shoulders and helped Rey lug him out through the lounge and towards the airlock. Several minutes later, they had all three piled up. Finn half-suspected Kylo had gotten them to move everything here for him and that he'd airlock Rey and Finn as well, but he appeared to be ignoring them for the moment in favor of wandering around this cruddy old freighter and touching the walls. Weirdo.

Finn looked down at the sad heap in the airlock. He'd been afraid of these men an hour ago.

"We should say something," he said. They hadn't been permitted to mourn when his fellow stormtroopers had been killed. Free people did.

Rey sighed. "May your Jagannath scores be high. There."

Finn pressed the cycle button on the panel. The bodies were ejected into the hyperspace tunnel, where they vaporized.

Rey had already turned away, heading for the ship's galley. Finn followed her. "How long has your family been gone?"

She dug through the cabinets. "A while."

"But you're sure they're coming back."

"They will." She didn't sound sure. She sounded like she wanted to be sure. The cabinets were empty, which she found more disappointing than surprising.

"Do you trust that Kylo guy?" he asked, by which he meant he didn't trust that Kylo guy at all.

Rey closed the last cabinet. "He left us alive."

"Yeah. You notice there's no one else with us? He took them out singlehandedly."

"I noticed. As long as he takes me back to Jakku, I have no problems with him."

* * *

They came out of hyperspace above a rocky planet Finn didn't know. Another ship waited for them, a sleek beauty that made the hunk of junk they flew look even worse in comparison. It extended an umbilical towards them which connected to the ship with the same sound as when Kylo had first boarded. Finn and Rey stood back while Kylo opened the hatch.

He expected to see Kylo's crew on the other side. Finn had already peopled them in his fevered imagination: a motley handful of pirates of the hardbitten heart-of-gold type, ragtag orphans scratching a life at the fringes of society.

He had the heart of gold part right. Gold, anyway.

"So good to see you safe, Master Ben," chirped the golden droid. "I never thought my eye circuits would see you standing in the _Millennium Falcon_ again!"

"Talk to her. I don't know what she's been through or what repairs she needs."

The golden droid shuffled forward, then saw Finn and Rey. "Oh, hello." He tilted his head. "Master Ben, do we have guests or prisoners?" His voice circuits remained pleasant, almost fussy, but at the last word, there was a flat tone Finn didn't like.

"Guests."

"Excellent! I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rey. This is Finn." Finn only nodded. He didn't trust Kylo, or Ben or whoever, and he didn't trust this droid.

The droid walked past them to a panel and began communicating in a high Binary tone. No one else boarded the ship. Finn asked, "Is he your only crew?"

"Master Ben fired the crew. And the crew before that. And the previous crew before that."

"No one asked you, Threepio." Kylo made his way through the umbilical to the other ship. Rey and Finn looked at one another, then followed.

Finn loved the second ship the moment he set foot on the deck. The bulkheads were dark but new. The computer systems looked as though they'd been designed this century, unlike the worrisome ancient blinking lights in the other freighter. Even the air handler smelled new, not clogged with old dust from long disuse. "Nice ship," he said, a reluctant compliment to someone he'd decided he didn't like much.

"When are you taking us back?" Rey had returned to her favorite topic: going home to Jakku.

"Later."

"If my family comes for me and I'm not there, they may never find me."

Finn put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure they'll wait." She shrugged off the hand and followed where Kylo had gone. The cockpit to this ship wasn't as roomy as the one on the other ship, but it was a lot nicer. He watched Kylo run a diagnostic on his own ship.

The golden droid, Threepio, joined them. "The _Millennium Falcon_ is in need of minor repairs, but otherwise appears to be in as good a condition as ever." His tone dropped to a conspiratorial mutter. "Her attitude has not improved, unfortunately."

Kylo asked, "Can she go on a mission?"

"I believe so." Threepio hesitated, which to a droid must have been like a six month pause in which he picked and chose his words with extreme care. "Master Ben, may I ask who will fly the _Falcon_?"

"I will. Obviously."

"And who will fly the _Sylop's Fortune_?"

"You flew it here." Kylo looked at his droid, but Finn could already see the worry on his face. "You couldn't fly a mission."

"I'm afraid not."

"I can fly," said Rey. "I'm a pilot."

Finn added that to the list of things he knew about her. The list was very short, and did not include knowing her last name.

Kylo said, "You are a child."

Threepio said, "Actually, Master Ben, my scan shows Miss Rey is approximately nineteen point two standard years of age, making her thirteen years older than you were when you stole the _Millennium Falcon_ for the first time."

Impatiently, and with all signs of having held this argument before, he said, "I didn't steal it. I needed to borrow it."

"I'm not a child," Rey said, "and I can fly. I can fly the garbage scow over there while you fly this one."

This earned her a dark expression. "I don't trust you flying my ships," he said in a cool tone.

"She's a better pilot than you are," Finn said automatically. Two minutes ago, he'd had no idea she was a pilot, but he knew she had to be better than this guy. Kylo's eyes shifted to Finn for a fraction of a second, seemed to acknowledge all of what Finn had been thinking, and dismissed him.

"This is more complicated than going on a one-stop hyperspace jump. Threepio could manage that. I need a pilot who can maneuver in the _Sylop's Fortune_ almost as well as I can."

"She can do it better."

"I can fly it well enough," Rey said, folding her arms. "I fly your mission, you take us back to Jakku. Agreed?"

Finn frowned. He didn't want to go back to Jakku, and he didn't want Rey going back either. But he didn't get a say in what she wanted.

Kylo watched her face for a long time. At last he said, "Agreed."

* * *

They didn't head off on the mission right then. With Threepio on the _Falcon_ and the two ships disengaged, Kylo grudgingly put Rey into the pilot's chair of the new ship while he stood directly behind her. Finn fit in the back, barely. He felt like a fool standing there without having any idea of what they were talking about as Kylo barked instructions, and Rey moved the zippy freighter effortlessly to each command.

When he was satisfied with what he'd seen, Kylo said, "Fine. Bring her in next to the _Falcon_. We'll dock, and go over the plan." Finn noticed the hand that had slipped to grasp Rey's shoulder in a friendly squeeze, and noticed too the smile he gave her. He didn't like the smile she gave Kylo, looking up for a moment before she turned her attention to bringing the two ships close enough to reach.

Kylo said, "I'll perform repairs here."

"I can help," said Rey. "I know my way around ships."

Finn couldn't volunteer, which was just as well. He didn't like Kylo, and he didn't trust he'd let them go when the mission he hadn't even discussed with them yet was finished. He watched them complete the dock, and watched them collect tools before heading over to the other ship.

The _Millennium Falcon_? Finn had heard that name before, sure. Everyone had. In his military history courses, he'd learned the callsign of the smuggling ship which had helped take down two Death Stars. But that ship was a legend, a fable. If it had been real, it had been lost long ago, and if the real _Falcon_ wasn't lost, it hardly would have been rusting in a desert junkyard on a nowhere planet like Jakku. The ship they'd been kidnapped in was not the famous _Millennium Falcon_. It was a flying deathtrap, and Finn had no interest in going back aboard.

Except Rey was going over there. With Kylo. Finn didn't trust Kylo alone with her. The only thing they knew about this guy was that he'd killed their last captors. He could do anything to Rey when he had her alone.

Muttering to himself, Finn followed them back to the other ship.

* * *

The _Falcon_ wasn't in great shape, not after the battle where they fled Jakku in it, and not after Kylo's attack to reclaim it. Finn privately thought the better use would be as scrap. Kylo couldn't be dissuaded from the repairs. Rey threw herself into helping and quickly took over. Finn wasn't much for repair work. He found himself following Kylo's droid around as Threepio went through his own routines on the _Sylop's Fortune_.

The First Order had employed interrogators, not merely torture droids but also highly-skilled humans whose purpose was to extract information from friend or foe by whatever means necessary. Stormtroopers feared going in to a room with one even as support personnel. Finn had never pictured himself one of their sadistic kind. He opted for what he hoped were more subtle questions.

What was it that Threepio called Kylo again? "How long have you known, er, Master Ben?"

"I have served his family for many years," said the droid. "I was there when his parents first met. It was a dreadful day."

"I'll bet." Finn thought about their captor/rescuer. "Is his name Ben Kylo?"

The droid turned. "Master Ben prefers the name Kylo now. That is how the crew should refer to him." Finn didn't like the slight emphasis the droid placed on the word 'crew,' as if implying that's what Finn was. He wasn't on this guy's crew. He wasn't part of whatever was going on here.

"Do you know anything about this mission we're supposed to work?"

"I'm sure Master Ben will tell us in due time." The droid spoke in a tone Finn recognized. His supervisors had always sounded a bit annoyed at being asked questions, and highly superior to the person asking them, just like Threepio.

"Has he ever blasted you?"

"Why, now that you mention it, yes, several times. He always rebuilds me afterwards, which is very thoughtful of him."

Great. Not only was their savior a jerk, he was the kind of unstable jerk who would blast his own family droid when it annoyed him, before or after he'd fired his own crew.

"Where are the lifepods? You know, just in case?" In case Finn decided he was ready to leave while he was still in one piece. He wanted to take Rey with him, but he wouldn't hinge his departure on her answer.

"Master Ben jettisoned them over a year ago."

"Of course he did."

* * *

Threepio prepared dinner for the three of them. Finn's stomach had been whining for the last hour at the intoxicating smells coming from the galley. Rey's eyes went big at the amount of food set out on the small table when the meal was ready. This was his first real meal as a free citizen of the New Republic and not a forced drone of the First Order, but the way she dug into the pile of not-very-good mashed tubers made him wonder if it was her first meal ever.

Kylo watched them eat without saying anything. Finn couldn't tell if his expression was laughing at them, judging them, or finding them both uncouth. (It stood to reason anyone whose sole companion was a prissy translator droid would use the word 'uncouth' a lot, or so Finn believed.) On the other hand, Kylo shoved his own large bites into his mouth without elegance, and when he did speak, he talked through his food like a green cadet. He didn't have any room to judge how either of his guests/prisoners ate.

Towards the end of the meal, Kylo suddenly lifted his fork and hurled it at Rey's head while she was looking away. She caught the utensil and slammed it to the table with a frown.

Finn said, "What the hell?" even as he alerted himself for aerobatic spoons lobbed in his general direction.

Kylo smiled flatly. "How long have you known?"

"Known what?" Rey was already on her feet, her stance ready to fight or flee. Finn joined her.

"What you are?" Kylo nodded at the fork. "I've been observing you all day. You've got reflexes normal people don't possess."

Finn said, "Normal people don't fling forks at people's heads."

Kylo finally looked at him. "No, you don't."

Finn didn't like the way he emphasized the word "you" but he didn't know what to make of it. He pulled on a different thread. "What do you mean you've been 'observing' her, you creep?"

"Observation is free." His gaze had gone back to Rey, who looked terrified. "You have powers. You know it. How long have you known what you are?"

"Thank you for dinner," she said coldly, before turning and walking away, back through the airlock to the other ship. Finn glared at Kylo, then followed her.

"Hey. Are you going to be all right?" He caught up with her in the older ship's run-down lounge area. "Ignore that guy. He's just trying to mess with you."

"Right."

Finn placed a hand on her shoulder, and she didn't turn around to break his arm. "Let's not worry about Tall, Dark, and Weird. Let's focus on getting through this plan of his, whatever it is, so we can get out of here."

"We're raiding a First Order supply depot." She said the words with little interest, as Finn felt all the blood in his body drain to his feet.

"We are not," he said in a voice he hoped was level and calm rather than panicked. "That's suicide! You don't mess with the First Order. They're trouble."

"I'm trouble, too," Kylo said, joining them. He tried to make the statement sound like he was some enigmatic, brooding figure sprung out of one of the romantic holonovels Finn consumed voraciously when they were passed his way in the barracks. Instead of Lord Steadly or Mister X'Otingd'n, Kylo sounded like a kid playing dress-up reciting his lines before he made 'pew pew' noises with his thumb and forefinger blasting imaginary foes.

"More trouble than you're worth," Finn said. Suddenly he felt something horrible, like fingers snaking around his throat, cutting off his breath. He tugged at his shirt collar, clawing for air. The pressure increased, and his vision started to go gray.

Rey said, "Stop it!"

Kylo looked at her, then waved his hand absently. Finn's lungs opened up and he sucked in a deep gasp of air. He glared at Kylo, but didn't speak. His throat was still too raw.

"What kind of Jedi are you?" she demanded.

"I'm not a Jedi."

"He's one of those, what do you call them, spiths? He's a spith."

Kylo rolled his eyes. "Sith. I'm not one of those either. You don't have to be." He was talking to Rey again. "Those are stupid old religions. I have powers. I use them. You have powers. You could learn to use them better than you do."

"I'm not like you."

He closed his eyes. Rey stumbled back. Finn forgot about his sore throat and went to her, putting himself between them. "Knock it off!"

"I didn't hurt her," Kylo said, opening his eyes again. "I said 'Hello.'"

Finn turned to Rey. She was pale and upset, and he hated Kylo for making her sad. "What did he do?"

"He said 'Hello.'"

"In your brain? He said 'hello' inside your brain?"

"And she heard me. You can't. I'm thinking at you now, but you can't hear what I'm calling you. Probably for the best." The taunt was childish and sulky. The man was right about one thing. There was no way he was a Jedi. Kylo took a stumbling step back. "Stop it," he said to Rey.

"You're right," she said, advancing on him. "You're not a Jedi at all. You tried to be. You had a teacher, but you ran away because you were jealous of the other students and scared of your own destiny. That's all you are: some frightened little boy running away from his problems."

"You saw that inside his brain?"

They both ignored Finn, staring at one another. All right, he thought. Kylo was something that was not a Jedi, and Rey was too. He'd met her less than eight hours ago. They hadn't spared much time to discuss their entire life histories. As long as neither of the not-Jedi went for the choking thing again, he wasn't going to worry about it.

Kylo wavered first. "I'll stay out of your brain and you stay out of mine."

"Done."

* * *

The subject of who was and wasn't a Jedi seemed to drop after that. Kylo called Threepio over to the _Falcon_ and went over their terrible plan.

"I've been close to the supply depot several times."

"Indeed," Threepio interjected. "We were shot at the last time!"

Kylo turned his head to him. "And it was fine. I got us out of there." He pulled up a holomap over the lounge's dejarik table. The projection jumped and flickered like the emitter was going bad. Absently, Kylo slapped the side of it, and the image cleared. "Here," he said, and the image zoomed in. "That's the furthest out supply building. That's where they keep their ordnance. That's our target."

Finn felt his eyebrows raise to the ceiling. "We're stealing their weapons? You know this is crazy, right?"

"High risk, high reward. I can get thousands of credits for just one load of munitions."

Finn said, "Can we go back to the 'high risk' part?"

"It will be fine," Rey said, staring at the map. "You fly this ship in as a distraction, we come in with the other one and do the pickup. As soon as we're clear, we both jump back here."

Finn looked around. "This piece of junk is the distraction? They'll blow you out of the sky in seconds."

"She's faster than she looks, and I know how to handle her. You'll be here with me manning my weapons. Threepio will stay with Rey on the _Sylop's Fortune_ and work the autogrips."

"They have been fussy lately," Threepio said doubtfully. "I may have unintentionally insulted the AI on our last mission."

"Send him flowers and apologize," Kylo said. "Just get him operational. We jump in first thing tomorrow."

* * *

Finn and Rey were given quarters on the _Sylop's Fortune_, with some reluctance from their benefactor. "Don't touch anything. You're not crew. This is temporary." Finn managed to keep his annoyed eye-roll off his own face, and ducked into the cabin he'd been given. For a moment, he stood inside, and let himself breathe. This had been a very, very, very long day, and it was ending with getting his own room for the first time in his life.

The bunk in this cabin was much softer than the ones he'd slept in back in the barracks. Even he could tell this wasn't a room designed for much comfort, but that didn't matter when he had clean blankets and a pillow that cradled his head instead of propping it stiffly.

He lasted about ten minutes. How did people fall asleep without listening to the rest of their squad snoring or jerking off? It was too quiet, and the soft pad of the bunk's mattress was making his back sore. He got up, pulled on his boots, and went to Rey's cabin next door, rapping lightly on the metal with his knuckles.

"What?" she said through the closed hatch.

"It's me. Can I come in?"

The door slid open. Rey didn't look like she was getting any more sleep than he was. She watched him suspiciously as he stepped into her room. "What is it?"

"Couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come see how you're doing."

She remained on edge, and it occurred to Finn she'd known him for less than a day. It only felt like he'd known her half his life. He raised his hands. "I can go. I don't want to bother you."

He watched her make herself relax. "No, it's fine. I wasn't expecting you. I was expecting him."

Finn let a thread of annoyed jealousy tickle the back of his neck before his memory reminded her that she'd been upset at having visitors. "If that guy is bothering you, we can leave right now. There's an escape pod on that rustbucket. Just say the word."

She shook her head. "I said I'd fly this mission. He's not bothering me. I don't like the way he looks at me." She let out a sigh. "He thinks I'm like him. I'm not. I'm nobody."

"Maybe nobodies can be Jedi." Finn didn't know how the Jedi thing worked.

Rey gave him a warning stare. "I'm not one of those. I don't think he's one, either. He quit."

Finn didn't point out Rey knew that from riffling through Kylo's head, which was very much a Jedi thing to do. "Fine," he said. "You're not a Jedi. Kylo's not a Jedi. I'm definitely not a Jedi. So let's not worry about it."

That appeared to make her feel better. "You're right. It isn't worth thinking about." She yawned. "We should turn in. Tomorrow will be another busy day, and then I can get home to Jakku."

"To wait for your family."

"Yes."

"How long did you say they've been gone?"

"It doesn't matter. They'll be back, and I need to be there." She opened the door. "Good night, Finn."

"Good night." He went back to his own cabin, and removed his boots, and lay down on the too-soft bed. Hours passed before he fell asleep. His dreams were strange, and winding, and filled with hard kisses from two lovers who faces he couldn't see.

* * *

They came out of hyperspace one system away from the moon where the First Order kept their base. Rey and Threepio stayed aboard the _Sylop's Fortune_ while Finn followed Kylo on board the _Falcon_. Finn still didn't buy that this heap of junk was the legendary freighter from all the stories. Kylo was just being weird.

"Take the ventral lasers," Kylo ordered. "Remember, our part of the plan is distraction."

"I know what the plan is," Finn said, heading down to the swiveling laser controls. He gave one longing look to the dorsal lasers far above, and notably up where they were less likely to be shot at by ground defenses. Sadly, that turret had been damaged past the ability of Kylo or Rey to repair yesterday. This ship had seen a lot of action. He hoped he survived this round.

Over the comlink, he heard Kylo and Rey exchange coordinates one final time. Then they were off, the _Falcon_ headed on a direct course for the depot as the _Sylop's Fortune_ peeled away, ready to make her run at a tangent far from the main fight. Finn checked his targeting computer, focusing on the depot's weapons batteries. He'd spent his life being told who to fire on, and even if he hadn't seen a lot of action since his promotion, he'd still seen too much.

"Shoot the weapons, not the people" sounded like a Jedi thing, and if he was hanging out with two Jedi, or whatever they were, Finn could adopt that as a life lesson.

The not-Jedi flying the ship opened fire on the troops with his forward guns. Finn groaned and opened up on the laser cannons up top before they targeted him first. If nothing else, they were causing plenty of explosions up at this end of the base. He hoped Rey got into position fast.

They swung by the base and came in for another attack, neatly dodging the blasts from below as Kylo spun and dove. Finn relied at first on his computer and finally on his wits as he strafed fire across the ground ahead of the troops' feet. He started feeling a pattern to their flight, anticipating where Kylo would jerk and tilt next, and his laser blasted with tighter and tighter precision, causing mayhem with (he hoped) few casualties.

Rey's voice came over the comlink: "I've got the pickup."

"Meet us at the rendezvous point," Kylo replied, going for one more attack to cover her escape. As they veered straight up, Finn saw the _Sylop's Fortune_ in the distance. One still intact cannon from the base began firing on her. Rey spun the ship, narrowly avoiding the blasts.

"Oh no you don't," Finn said, changing his target. He ignored the closer blasters and went after the cannon aimed at Rey. She swerved away from the blasts as he shot the cannon into rubble.

"Thanks," she said over the comlink, giving him a warm feeling. The feeling drained out as another blast came out of nowhere and shot the _Sylop's Fortune_'s engine.

"Rey!"

The _Falcon_ abandoned its sortie and flew to the last cannon, which Kylo took out with his forward guns. The _Sylop's Fortune_ tilted wildly.

"Break atmosphere!" Kylo shouted over the comlink. "Don't let her go down!"

Down was better than up, Finn thought. Down meant she could land safely. Up meant she would explode in vacuum. Rey pulled the ship up, juddering and shaking as she climbed. The _Falcon_ retreated with her, Kylo coming in to hold a tight formation as they fled the atmosphere of this huge moon.

Ships were scrambling at the base. Finn had taken out several TIEs on the ground, but more had been docked internally, and these spat out like angry bees from a rattled hive. Finn swiveled aft and returned fire, trying his best not to panic as they zoomed closer. Several blasts connected with the ship, sending tremors through the frame. Just his luck that he'd wind up killed by some pilot who probably trained next to him in Basic.

He had no chance to look for Rey's position. Was she still in the air or had the TIEs shot her down? He'd only know her for a day and a half. He shouldn't be this worried for her. But he was.

At last, the junky freighter pulled ahead of their pursuers, and out of the gunner bubble, he saw the _Sylop's Fortune_ at their side, smoke and sparks streaming from the damage.

"Master Ben," said Threepio over the comlink. "I'm afraid the _Sylop's Fortune_ will not survive a hyperspace jump."

Behind them, the TIEs kept coming. They were out of range, but wouldn't stay that way. Kylo said, "Rey, status!"

"He's right. The engines are on their last gasp." Even so, she peeled the dying ship away as a TIE got close enough to fire. Finn spun and blasted it out of the sky. "We have to put down."

"There's no haven. Repeat, no haven."

Finn had seen this once on a training mission. "If she docks, we can take both ships into hyperspace together."

"Bad plan," Kylo said. "The _Falcon_'s hyperdrive won't support it."

Rey said, "Find me a port or be ready to dock."

Finn heard him grunt unhappily. More ships approached, too far away to attack yet. He sent warning shots in their direction as the _Sylop's Fortune_ came closer.

"Reach out with your powers," Kylo said over the comm. "You have to know where we are or we'll crash into each other."

Delicately, like two skeletal insects attempting an awkward mating ritual, the _Sylop's Fortune_ and the _Falcon_ came together and attached docking clamps to each other. A moment later, the stars stretched the bright lines against the darkness, and they shot into blue safety. The jump took them only a few seconds, enough to get away, before the star field reappeared.

His pulse was racing. He took a moment, then pulled off his head-comm and climbed up to the main level. He went to the airlock, opening it to heavy smoke. "Rey?" he shouted, and coughed.

Kylo came up behind him. He pushed past Finn, hurrying to the cockpit. "How bad?" he asked, but the cold certainty in his voice said he already knew.

Rey had already climbed under the control panel. "Given time and parts, I think I could repair her." Another panel sparked. "I'm not sure we have either."

"Threepio?" Kylo demanded. "Anything from the AI?"

"No. It shut down at that last blast and is no longer functional."

Kylo looked under the control panel where Rey still worked. "Let me see."

"Fine," she said, slipping out of his way. "A cascade failure is building in the drive. Unless you've got a way to stop it, the engine will go critical in less than five minutes."

Finn said, "What happens if it goes critical while we're still docked?"

"We lose both ships."

"Oh dear," said Threepio.

Kylo pulled out from under the panel, and lay on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment. Was he doing some cool Jedi thing?

He swore, loudly.

"Gather everything you can carry. Take it aboard the _Falcon_." He got to his feet, and his face twisted as he punched the control panel with his fist. Sparks flew. Finn didn't wait around to watch more. He wanted off this ship now.

"Come on," said Rey, and led the way to the cargo bay. Time ticked down around them as more warning alarms blared. They each grabbed one anti-grav crate from the cargo bay and headed as fast as they could to the airlock. Threepio carried an armful of supplies as he made his stiff way through the hatch. Kylo wore a sling bag on his back, and had another pack in his arms. Finn went through the hatch with his crate. Rey lingered behind.

"It's time to go," she said.

He didn't speak. He took one more look around, and he followed her through the hatch. Finn shut it as soon as they were through. Kylo went to the docking clamp release, made a face, and ejected the other ship. The tiny viewport in the airlock hatch showed the metal drifting free. Rey hurried to the cockpit, and the _Falcon_ blasted away. The _Sylop's Fortune_ grew tiny in the viewport. Suddenly, a silent flash of light too bright to look at shined through at them.

Kylo swore again.

"We got away alive," Finn said. Kylo gave him a sullen look, and said nothing as he dropped his bags and went to join Rey in the cockpit. Finn watched him go. He couldn't tell if he was going to kill that man or if he was starting to like him.

Threepio followed his gaze. "On the bright side, he's not breaking anything." Threepio tilted his head. "I suppose I will have to reacquaint myself with the _Millennium Falcon_'s computer if we are going to be living here. She's so difficult to work with." He tutted to himself, carrying his supplies towards the old ship's galley. With a happy start, Finn realized the droid had remembered to bring the food. Stolen weapons from the First Order were not a bad haul for Finn's first day as a pirate, but he couldn't eat a blaster.

* * *

"You owe me a ship," Kylo said as Finn joined them.

Rey said, "Your terrible plan got the other ship destroyed. I held up my end of the bargain."

Finn said to them both, "We should jump again. The First Order will be searching the closest systems." He wasn't sure what worried him more: the thought of being shot down as a pirate, or being shot by a firing squad for desertion.

Rey still sat in the pilot's seat. She punched in coordinates to the navicomp, then frowned. "What's wrong with this thing?"

Kylo slid into the copilot's seat. "What isn't?" His voice was very nearly fond. He punched in the coordinates himself then smacked the side of the computer. Moments later, the calculation spit out. Rey set the course and jumped.

She stood. "You can drop us off at Jakku."

Finn said, "I don't want to go back to Jakku. The First Order will be searching Jakku."

"I need to get back."

"You don't, you know," said Kylo.

"My family will be looking for me."

He turned his head. "They abandoned you when you were five. They're not coming back. They never were. You know it. It's in your head."

"I told you before, you are not welcome inside my head," she said flatly before storming out.

Finn said, "Can't you act like not a jerk for five minutes?" He followed Rey out.

She'd moved to the lounge, sitting on the circular bench, folded in on herself with her eyes closed. Finn sat down at the other end of the bench. "That guy doesn't know what he's talking about. You want to get home, we will get you home. All right?"

"They're not coming back." Her voice was small, tight, sad.

"Maybe they are," he said, knowing she was right but hating that look on her face.

"No."

"Then stay here," said Kylo from the doorway. "You're a decent pilot, despite getting my ship destroyed. I could train you to not get yourself killed with your powers." No, the answer was that he could not act like not a jerk for five minutes.

"She said she wants to go back."

Rey said, "And you said you didn't." She looked at Kylo. "If we stay..."

"I didn't invite him."

"We both stay, or we both go," Rey said. "And you like him. I can hear what you've been thinking about us both." Kylo didn't deny her words. Finn wondered what he'd been thinking. He was suddenly and uncomfortably reminded of his own dream from last night, and he wondered if Jedi ever shared prophetic dreams. His raunchy holonovels used telepathy and dream-sharing as thin excuses for characters to have sex. Before this moment, it had not occurred to him that might have been drawn from reality, back when Jedi had been common out among the stars.

Rey said, "If we stay, we're all equal partners. You don't get to fire us just because you lose your temper again."

"I don't like this deal."

"It's the only one you're getting."

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Finn wondered if they were talking inside their heads. The connection had to be provocatively intimate, knowing each other's deepest fears and desires in the blink of an eye. Finn could only imagine. His own conundrum grew as the moment lingered, the pair of them staring at each other like nothing else in the galaxy mattered. Stay here on this ship, with the two of them using weird Jedi powers all the time while they ran risky missions? That sounded like a dangerously short life.

Kylo nodded at Rey. "Agreed."

But Rey was staying.

"Guess we're staying," said Finn. "I vote no more raids on First Order bases. They're nothing but trouble."

"Agreed," Rey said.

Threepio said, "If we have voting rights, I would like to vote we contact your mother and father and give them the wonderful news that we have located the _Millennium Falcon_. They'll be so pleased to hear from you, Master Ben."

"You don't get a vote," said Kylo.

"Equal partners," Rey reminded him. "Even him."

"Why, thank you, Miss Rey!"

"I hate all of you," he said, and went off in the direction of the cabins as Finn stifled a laugh. It was only his second day of freedom, and he already had a job, and a new best friend, and a new droid pal, and whatever the hell Kylo was. Not a bad beginning, he thought, and he wondered what tomorrow's adventure would bring.


End file.
